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Description

This manual is a guide to the study of the Renaissance lute, taking the student on a step-by-step journey through technical matters and exercises of increasing difficulty. It is aimed at both the beginner and those who would like to improve their own technique. Special attention has been given to those who have specialized in guitar, so where necessary some important differences between the techniques of the two instruments have been underlined. All the material has been set out following a rational approach to the various challenges. To this end I thought it useful to write many of the exercises myself, especially those at the beginning of the course. I hope to guide the student from the technical basics to a level sufficient for playing music of intermediate difficulty. Of course, any material regarding technique will help the student progress to higher levels.The main areas covered are: hand positions, according to Renaissance practice; study of appropriate sonority; development of contrapuntal sensitivity; idiomatic techniques; introduction to the different Renaissance musical forms; recognition of different interrelational forms.

Biographical Notes

Having studied the guitar, Andrea Damiani first studied lute under Diana Poulton, later studying with Anthony Bailes and Hopkinson Smith. He has earned diplomas in lute from the Royal College of Music in London and the Conservatorio “N. Piccinni” in Bari.Mr. Damiani maintains a busy concert schedule both as a soloist and as a member of several well-known Italian groups, such as the Concerto Italiano, which has played at major festivals in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.As a soloist, Mr. Damiani has given numerous recitals dedicated to the repertoire of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque, and of 18th-century German composers, especially J. S. Bach and S. L. Weiss.Mr. Damiani has recorded for and broadcast over several major European radio networks, such as the BBC, ORTF, RAI, WDR, etc. As a specialist in basso continuo on the theorbo and arch-lute, he has participated in numerous recordings for Arcana, Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Opus 111, Philips, Symphonia and Tactus. As a soloist he has recorded a CD dedicated to rare 15th-century sources from the province of Marche for the E lucean le stelle label, and another dedicated to "Il Fronimo" of Vincenzo Galilei, for Stradivarius.Andrea Damiani is regularly invited to teach on several international early music courses, such as those held in Chiusi della Verna, Erice, Lanciano, Urbino and by the Cini Foundation of Venice. He is currently Lute Instructor at the Conservatorio “A. Boito” in Parma.